LONDON: One of Britain's well-known Islamic preachers, Anjem Choudary has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison for his endorsing of terrorist outfit Islamic State. Police said that evidence from Indonesia proved both Choudary and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman "were key in the publication of their oath of allegiance" and were found guilty of inviting support between June 29, 2014 and March 6, 2015.
Head of the Metropolitan Police's Counter Terrorism Command, Dean Haydon said, "We have watched Choudary developing a media career as spokesman for the extremists, saying the most distasteful of comments, but without crossing the criminal threshold. At last we had the evidence that they had stepped over the line and we could prove they were actively encouraging support." The trial saw Choudary's broadcast speeches online explaining the reason behind him recognising Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as the leader of the Islamic State. Crown Prosecution Service's head of counter terrorism, Sue Hemming said, "Both men were fully aware that Daesh is a proscribed terrorist group responsible for brutal activities and that what they themselves were doing was illegal."
The police also revealed that he has links to hundreds of British jihadis, many of whom are expected to once be children who attended his rallies. Security expert and Buckingham University professor Anthony Glees said, "He's an extremely dangerous man. Virtually everybody who has gone off to fight for IS, has been associated with him. Between 300 and 600 of them are there as a direct result of his brainwashing." UK-based think tank Henry Jackson Society showed almost a quarter of Islamic-linked terror offenders in the UK since 1999 who were inspired by Choudary or his close associates.
The leader's supporters didn't react too well, and shouted "Allahu Akbar" as Choudary stood for test at the Central Criminal Court, London. The London-based preacher has been a controversial figure. He has been seen standing at street corners and promising that Islamic flags would be flying over Downing Street. One of his several absurd statements include calling the Queen to wear a burka. Troubles began for Choudary in 2014, after his name was seen on an oath declaring the legitimacy of the "proclaimed Islamic Caliphate State."
Choudary's speeches reach beyond London and the UK, towards the west. Making a case for his influential ways, a newly recruited academic who spends his time researching extremism, Jesse Morton, 37, once aspired to raise al-Qaeda's black flag in America. Known as Younus Abdullah Muhammed, Morton was jailed for over 11 years for charges of encouraging extremists to attack the creators of the South Park cartoon, amongst others. A satire on the show showed Prophet Muhammad in a comedy bear suit. Deradicalised and regretting his former ways, he said it was in 2004, during New York's annual Muslim Day Parade, that he found Choudary's American followers.
"I was eating at a food stand and I saw the Islamic Thinkers Society, with their black flag and T-shirts saying 'I Love Jihad' in Arabic. Wow, I'm attracted. There are pictures of dead Muslim children. There are leaflets on the Khilafah, denunciations of George W Bush and his crusade. I was hooked. And I went up to the man at the back who looked like the leader, and said, 'I want to join your movement,'" said Morton. He added, "I had been looking for this very organisation. I already had the belief that my society had betrayed me. I was already sympathising with al-Qaeda. My religious conversion was much more of a political statement than theological and this group was giving me an outlet." Both he, and Choudary met on Skype, where the latter encouraged the group to promote the recruit.
